Pardon Me
by Toxic-Koala
Summary: Seventeen year old Audrey Harris, who is NOT A MUTANT, but IS a little bit of a spaz has been kidnapped by Magnito! OcPyro Wow, this story has an actual plot too! OMG, re-write enhancement going on! Chapter 5 finished! Set directly after the second movie.
1. Audrey’s Abduction

Pardon Me

Chapter One: Audrey's Abduction

* * *

Hard to believe that it was the clicking of a Zippo lighter that woke Audrey up. Considering that most of the time, a blaring alarm clock couldn't do that job.

"What the shit?" Audrey grumbled and sat up, her head was spinning. The last thing she could remember was… "Being hit on the head with a brick?" she screeched and looked around, discovering that she was in large steel cage. The bars glinted in the light maliciously as her eyes passed over them.

Wait- no, she couldn't be in a cage… could she?

About ten feet long- ten feet wide- bars too large for her hand to fit all the way around.

Yes, she was in a cage.

She was sitting on a small green cot right in the middle of a cage.

This was so very messed up.

Audrey's mind raced, who would put her in a cage! Why would someone do something like this!

She froze, she thought, she grimaced and she vowed to never chat with any strange men over the internet ever again. Even her remorse at this moment could not save her though.

"She's awake.--" Someone said behind her and Audrey spun around to look behind her so fast that she whipped herself off of the cot and fell to the floor with a thud.

A soft chuckle graced her ears, as though it were some kind of universal law that pain was to be accompanied to humiliation. She pushed herself up off the floor while muttering incoherently about whiplash. Through a veil of her own coppery red hair she could see a young man on the side of the cage she herself wished she was on; the out side.

He was leaning back in a chair, smirking at her and fiddling with a lighter. He looked very amused, he looked handsome. More importantly, he did not look like some creepy fifty year old internet troll who still lived in his mothers basement and got his rocks off by kidnapping young redheads and disemboweling them in hot tubs. Actually, hell, Audrey stared at him… if she had to be kidnapped at some point in her life she sure was grateful it was by someone like him.

Her hormone driven post-pubescent thoughts were suddenly chilled… After all didn't some women find Ted Bundy attractive?

Next to handsome man sat a large man with yellow blonde hair and a scowl. Large as in 'that is a whole lotta person' large'. Large as in 'where did the Hostess factory go, oh he ate it' large.

Audrey stood and dusted herself off, glancing around the cage once more anxiously. She would not freak out, she would keep calm, she would demand answers and if they did not give them to her she would throw a tantrum the likes of which the world has never seen.

"Where am I?" She asked, walking to the side of the cage the two men sat at. She placed one hand on the cold steel bar beside her face.

Neither of them answered her. The man smirking only continued to play with his zippo lighter. Click . Flick. Swish.

Audrey stared at him, confused.

John didn't stare at her, he wasn't fixated on her beauty, nor had he fallen in love with her the moment she had opened her mouth. In Johns world, love at first sight was for desperate people, and those with chemical imbalances.

She was pretty, he was a horny nineteen year old guy. In his mind their relationship barely had the potential to have the depth of a mud puddle.

At the end of the day, he had a job and she was it.

"Go tell Magneto she's up." John ordered while elbowing the huge man beside him.

Audrey's eyes flickered to the bag of muscle and flesh who continued to scowl at her.

Blob had a different reaction to seeing Audrey. He thought she was physically gorgeous but he hated her from the moment he'd first seen her skipping down the street in an obnoxiously childlike way. He had enjoyed knocking her unconscious with a brick as much as he had enjoyed copping a feel while he transported her to her cage. He desired her and he knew she would never desire him for what he was. Blob knew what he was, disgusting; and he hated her for it.

Audrey blinked and removed her hand from the cold iron bar.

The large blubbery man grunted and got up, leaving the room.

John watched his fellow mutant leave and wrinkled his nose. He didn't care if Blob was fat, or if the beast could lift over three tons of, well anything. John just got tired of all the scowling. Scowl at this, scowl at that… god find a new routine already.

"Where am I?" Audrey repeated a little bit louder, John turned his attention towards her lazily.

She gritted her teeth; his silence and that casual smirk of his were getting annoying.

"To me it looks like you're in a big cage." He replied calmly, flicking his lighter open.

"Yea." She glared at him and cocked her head like a confused puppy. "Why?"

"Someone must have put you there."

"Someone?" She asked sarcastically and ran a hand through her hair. "Why?"

"Why what?"

"Why would someone put me in a big cage?" Audrey told herself to be patient, to not freak out, freaking out was not good.

He shrugged and snapped his lighter shut. "Maybe they thought it would be funny?"

"Funny!" She shrieked and he looked a bit taken back by her sudden outburst.

Audrey remembered to take a deep breath and calm down, she was not going to be that stupid woman who panicked when they found themselves in a scary situation. Instead she decided to try and play it cool.

"Funny 'ha ha' no." She said and leant against the bars. "Funny 'weird' yes."

John shrugged again.

"Okay, obviously not going to get any real answers out of you am I?" She asked, becoming frustrated again.

Another shrug.

Play it cool, like Travolta she reminded herself. Don't freak out. Drew Barrymore freaked out in 'Scream' and where did it get here. That's right, it got her dead. It got her stabbed right in the boobies!

Maybe she shouldn't have thought that. Since it immediately gave her the image of someone stabbing her into the chest as she tried to run away.

Audrey's eyes widened.

John fell very still as he watched the prisoners face contort into that of absolute horror.

"Oh god." She gasped and sunk down to the floor. "I've been kidnapped and now I'm going to die. I'm going to be sold off to some kind of black market human slave trade in a Guatemala where some pimp named Francesco 's going to make me addicted to cocaine and turn me into a cheap crack whore!" Audrey felt like she was hyperventilating and her eyes were beginning to sting. Freak out mode was officially in gear.

"I don't even know what it means to toss someone's salad!!" She exclaimed, sounding absolutely horrified.

John sat there staring at her, his smirk completely gone and his features paralyzed with shock.

Audrey continued to ruffle her copper hair nervously and talk to herself in a panicked tone.

"I'm too young to be a crack whore in a third world country, I'm only seventeen" She said and started to breathe with difficulty. She was hyperventilating.

"Just chill out okay." John ordered, becoming slightly concerned about her without really knowing why. He didn't like watching her spaz out this way "No ones going to make you toss salads."

"Then." Audrey pulled in a wheezing breathe. "Oh god, oh god, your going to take my kidneys aren't you? Stick me in a tub full of ice and leave me there to die!" She turned towards him, tears beginning to stream steadily from her eyes. She whined like a three year old. "I don't like cold baths! I don't want to give any rim jobs!"

She hiccupped.

"I don't know what a rim job is either!" She declared, an ultimate sadness in her voice. Desperation for that horrible knowledge only comes when you are sure you're going to die, and you're sure you're not ready.

"No, Jesus…" John reached out a hand as though he was going to put his hands through the bars of her cage and pat her back or something but he pulled it back instantly. His eyebrows knotted and he seemed to be completely baffled now.

Audrey was turning a little pink now from lack of oxygen.

"Calm down," He practically begged "No ones going to take your kidneys or… take you to Guatemala…"

No use, she was still freaking out. Bottom lip trembling, not breathing, paralyzed with fear kind of freaking out. John was sure if he didn't calm her down soon she was going to have a nervous breakdown.

"You're safe okay!" he told her forcefully and she looked up, trying to listen to him. "You're safe and no ones going to hurt you!"

She started to calm down now, after about five minutes of silence she had returned to normal and was no longer crying.

John meanwhile had to sit there, watching the entire process. He sat back and let out an exasperated breath when her color had returned to normal.

"Promise?" She asked quietly without looking at him. She just looked at the ground. She was avoiding eye contact and focusing on her breathing.

John didn't care what she was doing as long as she wasn't screaming about rim jobs and tossed salads.

"What?" He asked, furrowing his eyebrows. John had heard her, he just didn't seem how a promise from him would really mean anything. It was easy to break promises, too easy.

"You promise no ones going to hurt me?" She repeated, looking up at him and sniffling a little.

With her large eyes puffy and pink from tears and her chin trembling, she looked so helpless. Audrey reminded John of a scared child. The fact that he was feeling pity for her annoyed him intensely.

For a minute he couldn't answer yes, he wouldn't. He had to actually stop and think about why, even though promises were so easy to break, why was this one so difficult for him to make? Maybe because he wanted to keep it, maybe because he thought he wouldn't be able to.

"Yes." He responded finally when he saw the panic building up behind her eyes again.

"Okay." She seemed to be soothed by John's response and he felt even more confused than ever. This girl was something else. What, he couldn't be sure of yet but the fact he had been able to calm her down so much made him feel a little bit of pride. That a promise from him had that kind of effect on her was profound for him.

Audrey pushed herself up off the floor and leaned against the bars of her oversized cage. Her face towards the inside of the cage, her back to John.

"You alright now?" He asked, sounding exhausted.

Silence followed, his chest tightened. She had believed him right? He leant forward, and rested his elbows on his knees, watching her intently.

She nodded her head and wiped tears from her eyes before turning to face him once more.

There was a long string of silence and John had begun to play with his lighter once more. Flicking it open and closing it with a snap. Turning his attention from the girl in front of him to the dancing flame at his finger tips.

"Um.." She tapped her fingernails on the cage bars.

John looked up from his lighter, raising his eyebrows. She was staring at his lighter too, but then her eyes flickered up to his. She seemed to have recovered, in… what, thirty seconds? John knew that had to be some kind of record for a girl to go from panic attack to calm curiosity.

"So, what's your name?" Audrey asked in a way that let him knew she knew the question was kind of lame too.

"Pyro." He said and looked at the small flame of his lighter, then snapped it shut quickly, resisting the urge to play with fire right now. Even though- he had no way of knowing then how he was playing with fire just by speaking to her.

Audrey scrunched up her nose. Showing her dislike for the name 'Pyro' without any hesitation.

"What?" He asked shortly, offended. First this redhead spazzed out on him, now she's going to insult his name?

"Nothing, it's just… Your parents named you Pyro?" She asked, giving him a look that asked if they were complete idiots, or dopers.

"No." He said flatly.

She lifted an eyebrow, a silent way of inquiring about the name.

"I named myself Pyro." He told her and put his Zippo back in his pocket. "My parent's named me John."

"I like John better than Pyro." She said simply and he gave her an almost glare. "I'm Audrey." She said, choosing to ignore the dirty look. "But if I was going to name myself, I think I'd have to go by Rainbow Gerbil-shorts."

"You're weird." He said after a second of observation.

Audrey shrugged. "Coming from a man who named himself Pyro." She retorted and wrinkled her eyebrows before going in a completely different direction "That's actually kind of weird though, because when I was little I used to be a total pyromaniac." She told him- emphasizing the 'Pyro' in a way that made him feel like she was teasing him about it.

John was completely perplexed by this girl, she was utterly random… but still he found himself interested in her old pyromaniac days. He asked the question so many before him had walked away from. "Really?"

"Yea." She said simply and smiled. "I set the living room curtains on fire once, and then there was the time with my sister's cat Boggie… the fur on his tail has never really grown back." She said, her smirk smoothly turning into a full blown grin.

John reasoned that either she didn't like the cat, or she really liked fire.

Despite himself, John was smiling. He had once set a dog on fire growing up. Then the door to his left opened, snapping him back into the reality of the situation.

Audrey wrinkled her eyebrows as an older man she would later describe as an ancient bisexual with a god complex in a football helmet walked into the room and looked her over. Audrey immediately noted that his smile was as unpleasant as his fashion sense.

"You're Amelia Harris' sister are you not?" Magneto asked, shifting his helmet a little. He tried to ignore that she was staring at it in awe, openly.

"Amelia is _my _sister, yes." Audrey responded, trying to pull her eyes away from the helmet.

"Well then we have the right girl." Magneto said happily, clapping his hands together once.

"Are you gonna kill me?" The question fell from her mouth like a half chewed egg roll, she tilted her head and gazing at the elderly man suspiciously.

Magneto's expression fell curious, she was direct.

"I don't see any reason to." He responded in a way that gave Audrey the real meaning of that statement. 'I will if I find a reason.'

Audrey tapped her fingernails against the bar once again as she studied Magneto. Her pensive expression fluttered away after a second.

"So you _kidnapped _me to get to my sister…" She said, putting the pieces of this extremely odd puzzle together.

She was quick too. Magneto realized sourly.

"What would make you say that?" He asked.

"First thing you did was ask me if I was my sister's sister." She responded smoothly. "You would only do that if you thought my sister was my sister, which she is. SO me being my sisters sister must be the reason I am here."

John and Magneto's eyebrows lifted.

"So why do you want Amelia?" Audrey asked- her voice adopting a somewhat calculating twang to it which seemed out of place on her.

"You really want to know, do you?" Magneto asked.

"Yup." She answered.

"Well she is a mutant with--"He began- but got cut off by an excited squeak.

"No way? Amelia is a mutant! Oh I knew it! I knew something was going on!" Audrey exclaimed.

"With a very special ability--" Magneto was trying to continue as though Audrey hadn't interrupted him. Hoping she wouldn't do it again.

No such luck.

"What can she do, what's her mutation?" She asked, bouncing up and down a little.

"She disassembles and deteriorates molecules…" Magneto drawled, earning a blank stare from Audrey.

"So… She like can… destroy junk?" Audrey attempted to clarify. Science wasn't her forte.

"Actually she had the distinct ability to reduce 'junk' into nothing but a fine particle dust." He said, emphasizing the word junk in a mocking way.

"That's awesome!!" Audrey cried, grinning.

Magneto gave her a strange look and then looked down to John who returned his expression and shrugged.

"I understand her about as much as you do." He told Magneto.

"You guys are mutants too aren't you?" Audrey asked, looking at them in a way that a scientist looks at new and untainted laboratory rats.

"Yes." Magneto said shortly.

"Ooo, what can you do?" She asked, gazing at the old man in wonder.

Magneto smiled coldly and held up a hand, one of the bars of her cage bent a little and Audrey gaped like a fish at it.

"Wicked…" She said in wonder.

"I can do much more than that I assure you." He said in a way she perceived as threatening. With that statement, Magneto left.

Audrey stared at the door a moment, then turned back to John.

"So, John?" She asked conversationally.

He didn't look up.

"Yea?" He said after a second, only half listening to her.

"What's with the dorky helmet?" she asked.

John looked up at her and grinned.

* * *


	2. Mystique’s Mirror Image

Pardon Me

Chapter Two: Mystiques Mirror Image

* * *

"So, when do we kill her?" Blob questioned.

Mystique slowly turned towards the several hundred pounds of man which stood off to the side.

Her expression portrayed exactly how irritated with him she was. "We don't kill her, Moron ."

"Then why's she here?" Blob demanded. "Why go through-" The large man fell silent when he noticed that Magneto's had had slowly risen.

"She is worth much more to us alive." He spoke with his back to both of them.

"Why-" Blob did not have the opportunity to ask any more questions.

"Blob." Magneto said, gaining the attention of his large crony once more. "You go watch our _guest_. Tell Pyro I would like to speak with him."

Blob waddled out of the room obediently.

Magneto turned to Mystique.

He hid his unease well enough; to anyone else the slight change in his disposition may have gone unnoticed, but she was far from blind to his moods. Mystique knew Eric was on edge, she could feel it in her skin.

"Is she going to be a problem?" The blue woman asked, moving forward.

"I don't think so my dear. " He paused and a small smile spread across his face. "She is much different than I had expected."

This prompted an inquiring look from Mystique.

"She thought her sister's ability was, I believe her exact words were 'that's awesome'" Magneto said, amused and turned back to the security camera, where he could see John and Audrey talking.

"I think she's going to be a problem." Mystique stated.

"I think he sister is going to be the problem." He replied softly.

* * *

Meanwhile in the ten by ten foot steel cage, Audrey stood with her arms crossed-gazing around the completely metal room with slight awe.

"This place is just… cold and creepy." She stated the obvious. "Gross cement walled, warehouse place."

"You don't think your sisters a freak?" John asked suddenly, sounding relatively bitter.

"She's my sister; I've always thought she was a freak." Audrey replied lightly and walked around to the green cot.. She bent down and grabbed it by one of the iron legs and dragged it forward to the side of the cage John sat outside of. Even over the screech of the metal legs grinding against the steel floor. She heard John 'Hmph' at her. That indignant noise was followed directly by the sound of his lighted flicking open.

She paused in the cot pulling and turned to him. "Don't 'humph' me." She said and pulled the cot a little further, so it was only about a foot from the cage bars. "Me thinking my own sister is a freak-" She began and crawled on top of the cot, folding her legs underneath her and looking John square in the eye. "Has nothing to do with her being a mutant."

John gave her an un-convinced look. "Oh really?" He asked, not believing a word.

"Yes _really_." She told him shortly. Then she looked down a little, thinking sadly. "She should have told me. The fact that she didn't pisses me off a little."

John lifted an eyebrow.

"_And_ the fact she let me get kidnapped pisses me off more." She added and John smirked. "I just wish I could see her, see what she can do… but seriously where I?"

John opened his mouth to say something but the door to his left opened with a slam and Blob entered, jiggling a little.

"Magneto wants to talk to you."

"What about her." John pointed to Audrey.

"I'm supposed to stay with her." Blob snapped and stood by John's chair.

Audrey looked to Blob who was glaring at her.

"Did you have a bad day?" Audrey asked in the way that psychiatrists often do.

"Shut up." Blob said forcefully and Audrey looked scandalized.

"Excuse me?" She asked lightly.

"I said, shut up." Blob repeated.

John stood up and looked between the human pile of flesh and Audrey. Blob was glaring and Audrey seemed only mildly amused.

"Do you treat all of your guests this way?" She asked and braced her feet on the bars of the cage, pushing herself and her cot back away from it with a slight attitude.

"You're not a guest, now shut up."

"If I'm not a guest, what am I?" Audrey asked.

"A prisoner." Blob snapped and she looked to John who gave her the 'he's right' look.

"Oh, _damn_." She breathed and folded her arms across her chest.

Just when John opened the door and walked out, the last thing he heard was Audrey asking Blob:

"Have you ever tried jazzercising?"

John grinned as the large metal door closed behind him. He flicked his lighter open once while walking down the narrow hallway.

One thing about living with Magneto- every thing was metal. The walls, the floor- the majority of the furniture, everything. It proved to be both uncomfortable and, after two months- very annoying.

His footsteps echoed loudly through the old canning factory. Before long he had found his way to the old security room, where he knew Magneto would be waiting.

"Blob said you wanted to talk." John said, flicking his lighter open.

"I have a job for you Pyro." Magneto told him without turning.

"K." Was John's simple answer. It wasn't as though it was up for discussion. Magneto had a job, he would do it.

"I want you to go get a few of Audrey's things for her. Knowing Charles, it may be a few days before they actually come for her."

"Why that long?" John asked, wrinkling his eyebrows. It made no sense for them to wait. If she were his sister he'd have been here for her already. John reminded himself he did not have a sister.

"He thinks I want him to try and bust in here and rescue her." Magneto responded, turning from the cameras.

"Don't you?" The younger mutant asked. Pawing through his mind and trying to understand Magneto's exact motivation for this entire thing. Nothing he was doing really added up, and the fact that there was a whole other mess of things John didn't know about. Made him a little less sure of Magneto's abilities.

Maybe he wasn't sharing his entire plan because Xavier could just pluck it from their heads? Or maybe he was just going senile?

John's eyes glided up to the old mans dorky helmet.

"I don't want them coming for her, yet." Magneto clarified. "Go, Mystique will be going with you." He ordered, turning away as Mystique left the screen she'd been watching.

Her blue, scaly skin turned soft and caramel as her body height morphed down at the same time. By the time she'd reached John- she was a living breathing replica of Audrey. Everything from the copper hair to a small freckle beside her left temple was in place.

Although she looked like Audrey. The attitude remained a hundred and ten percent Mystique. She walked directly past John. "Let's go." She told him impatiently, as though he were somehow wasting her time.

* * *

"What kind of name is _Blob_?" Audrey asked conversationally, while picking the teal polish from her nails. Blob didn't respond, she knew he wouldn't. He'd finally figured out that the more he told her to shut up, the more she would talk.

What he hadn't counted on, was that she didn't exactly need him to have a conversation.

"I mean, it suits you. Yes." She continued.

"Why you little-" Blob muttered, his eyes narrowing on her. She continued as though he hadn't spoken.

"But I think, Blob is just so Blob isn't it?" She looked up from her nails, and studied him for a moment. "You're more of a Tank really, or maybe a Buddha?"

"_Shut up.." _Blob growled.

"Though I suppose you wouldn't want people rubbing your stomach all the time. That would get annoying." She wasn't about to let up on him. He'd been _rude_.

"I said shut up!" Blob bellowed and Audrey almost looked like she was going to for a second. Then, she decided against it.

"I'm just trying to make conversation here..." She told him sweetly and lazed back on her green cot. She couldn't seem to shake the feeling she'd seen Blob somewhere before. Wait a minute…

"You were the one who hit me with a brick!" She screeched, sitting up.

* * *

John looked up at the large white building before him. It looked like some kind of hospital more than it did like a school. The architecture was clean and cold.

In front of the school there was a large bronze statue of a girl, a ballerina standing on her toes- her arms reaching for the pale blue sky overhead.

He walked to the statue, studying it silently for a minute before a small flash of gold caught his eyes. At the base of the statue was a plaque. His eyes raked over it silently. 'Vencor School of Ballet'. He made a face and turned to Mystique.

"You have to be kidding me." He really hadn't taken Audrey as the ballerina type.

John flicked his lighter open for the umpteenth time.

"Stop that." Mystique snapped, and John looked over her, glaring. After a moment he obediently pocketed his lighter. Only because he was sure that in a fight- fist to fist, she could kick the crap out of him though.

She gave a dark look, which seemed completely out of place on Audrey's soft face. She then headed up the steps of the building. Before they even walked in they could hear soft reception music playing from within. Nope, no longer like a hospital, more like a mall now.

As they walked into the building, they took in the very businesslike feel of the place. Complete with reception desk and two elevators on either side of the entrance hall.

A small bell dinged as one of the elevators doors opened and a group of thin girls stepped out, gigglng about something. They all stopped dead in there tracks when they saw the carbon copy of Audrey walking next to John.

"Audrey!" One of the girls with bright yellow hair called and Mystique stopped, moving towards the second elevator. She turned to them and smiled.

"Audrey where have you been?" The blonde demanded as the three other girls followed behind her, smiling. She stopped and seemed to notice John for the first time, she smirked at who she thought was Audrey. "Um, Audrey- introductions?." She asked, gesturing from John to the group of girls behind her.

John grinned, looking to Mystique in a way that said 'ha ha. Try to act your way out of this one.'

Mystique glared.

"Oh forget it, I'm Elle." The redhead said and held out her hand to John, he hesitantly shook it. "That's Alexis, Macy, and Jessica."

"Hey." John said, his eyes flickering over each of the girls, who were only about a year or two younger than himself.

"This is John." Mystique said in a tone that showed how bored she was.

"Audrey, could we talk to you for a minute?" Elle asked suddenly.

Mystique raised and eyebrow but allowed herself to be led away by the group of girls, leaving John to stand there alone. He pulled out his lighter and clicked it open and closed a few times.

"Okay, spill." Elle said excitedly glancing at John with his lighter. "I mean he's not like, your type." The other girls nodded in agreement. "He looks like, too much of a bad boy for you."

Mystique stared.

"You stayed out all night with him didn't you?" Elle interrogated what she thought was her friend with all of the enthusiasm only a seventeen year old girl could generate.

Mystique nodded, smiling. If she just went along with whatever the girls said they would leave her alone. Like a wild animal, teenage girls- she learned would sniff you and leave you alone if you played dead.

"Oh- My- God." The one Elle had introduced as Macy said.

"Well, I still don't think he's your type but, go for it. He's a total hottie. We'll let you guys have some _alone time_." Elle said and walked off, before she was outside though she turned back and shouted. "Mr. McMinn is so P.O'd at you for not being in class today by the way!" With that she was out the door.

John walked over to Mystique his lighter out and clicking once more. She gritted her teeth in annoyance. He chose to ignore it.

"What they want?" He asked.

"To talk about you. They think you're a bad boy kind of hot." She told him, her voice devoid of any humor. "Her rooms on the fifth floor."

John paused and glanced at where the girls had been. "Wait, they thought I was hot?"


	3. Pyro’s Panty Raid

Pardon Me

Chapter Three: Pyro's Panty Raid

* * *

John walked into the room behind Mystique, there were two twin beds. One with a pink comforter, the other with a white. Two dresser drawers, a desk and a closet on the right wall.

Mystique went right to work, opening the closet and pulling out a duffle bag, she began pulling cloths off the hanger's and stuffing them in it sloppily.

John sat on the bed looking bored, a picture on the nightstand caught his attention. He picked it up carelessly.

It was Audrey standing next to a woman with dark brown hair and strong strait features who was quite a bit taller. Audrey had her head thrown back and was laughing loudly about something, while the woman grinned happily beside the young copper haired teen. They seemed happy, like most people in photos. The tall chick was probably the sister he'd been hearing so much about. The two of them looked very similar, they had the same cupids bow mouth. The high cheek bones. The same happy smile.

Family pictures always made him twinge a little in his stomach.

"Hallmark moment." John commented darkly to himself and dropped the frame on the bed, standing up. He began to click his lighter again. Nosing around Audrey's things without shame.

He opened the top dresser drawer and lifted up a bright yellow bra by the strap, it had big, grinning smiley faces on the front of each cup and John just stared at it, smirking. Until he felt his thumb being burnt.

"Shit!" He dropped the lighter and shook his hand. He had been lost in 'thoughts' which meant his thumb had touched the flame of the Zippo while he wasn't concentrated. He hated burning himself and hadn't done so in years. Damn Bra.

Mystique looked over her shoulder at him.

He picked up his Zippo and did his best to look as though he didn't care what she though.

Mystique walked to his side, snatching the bra out of his grasp and stuffing it in the duffle bag, followed by a handful of undergarments out of the top drawer. She then slammed it shut, nearly taking the tips off of Johns fingers. Then, she headed out of the room, saying something that sounded a lot like. "This isn't a panty raid Pyro."

"That's exactly what this is." John grumbled, shutting the drawer.

Mystique stared at him.

"What? Turning you on?" He asked, smiling.

* * *

Meanwhile, back at Xavier's School For Gifted Youngsters a tall figure in black, with pale skin and charcoal eyes stood her expression darkening. Amelia Harris was now being informed of the serious danger her little sister was in. Audrey had been taken from her school, or rather a block away from it. She was god knows where with some of the most dangerous mutants in the world.

Amelia felt herself being pulled towards her uglier side immediately.

"I don't understand." Scott said, "Why would they take her?"

Xavier looked to Amelia, who stood dangerously still in the back of the room.

Storm sighed with understanding. "They want Amelia."

"Okay, why?" Scott asked.

"Because she's pure destruction." Logan explained gruffly. Glancing to Amelia who was focusing her attention towards the flood, she had yet to utter a single word. Since Xavier had explained the situation to her.

"What could he use her for, her powers are barely under control." Scott said.

"Scott." Storm warned.

"I was just saying." He defended.

"It doesn't matter. Its Magneto, which means whatever he's up to isn't good." Logan interrupted the argument.

"Logan's right." Xavier told them, sighing. "Unfortunately Magneto is aware how powerful Amelia is and he's going to try and persuade her to join his brotherhood."

"Kidnapping her sister, that's persuasion?" Storm asked, crossing her arms.

"I believe its meant to be more of an attention grabber." Xavier replied, sounding somewhat amused. "He won't hurt, not yet."

"Yet." Amelia said softly, raising her chin to survey the others. Her charcoal eyes bore holes through Xavier. "What does that mean?"

"He wont hurt her until you give him a reason to." The professor explained.

"Refusing to work for him is a reason." Scott added.

"So this Magneto guy." Amelia spoke slowly, stepping towards Xavier's desk. "He wants me?"

"What have we been talking about for the past half an hour?" Logan snapped.

Her dilated, grey eyes flickered towards him sharply before returning to Xavier. "Where is she?"

"Now is not the time for that, Amelia." Xavier stated.

"Where?" She insisted, her tone warning.

* * *

When John and Mystique returned to the room where 'the prisoner' was being held, they arrived just in time to see a singing and dancing Audrey, and an irate blob. His face was actually pink and a large vein was popping out of his forehead.

"SHUT UP, JUST SHUT UP!"

Audrey had decided to start singing one of her favorite songs, that was twenty minutes ago. She didn't know all of the words so she free styled the lyrics she couldn't remember. But mostly it was the 'should I stay or should I go?' by The Clash.

"This indecision's bugging me.. La indecisión me molesta!.." She sung loudly "If you don't want me, set me free! Si no me quieres, líbrame!" Audrey chose to break out some air guitar at that moment. "Exactly who'm I'm supposed to be?." She paused, then picked up the beat again. "Skipping the Spanish here I don't know... Should I stay or should I go? Come on and let me know! Should I cool it or should I blow?" She then did a very foolish Egyptian walk dance, bobbing her head up and down.

Blob took notice to Mystique first, who still looked like Audrey, that seemed to snap his final straw. He mumbled something and practically ran out of the room, but not before Audrey could shout to him. "Come back and visit!"

Audrey seemed to regain her common sense when Blob was gone and she smiled at John, then at Mystique before laying back on her cot. Even before her back hit the cot though she bolted upright again and looked at herself standing next to John.

"Woah, out of body experience.." Audrey said, gazing at Mystique.

She watched, wide eyed as Mystique transformed into her blue self.

"Holy Hammers." Audrey stood up and walked to the side of the cage. "How did you do that?"

Mystique just handed the duffle bag packed with Audrey's belongings to John and left, without even acknowledging she was asked anything.

Audrey looked to John. "Did you see that?… Of course you saw it you were right there… Who is that, how did she…" Audrey trailed off.

"Mystique, its her mutation." John said casually and sat down in the steel fold out chair once again. He dropped the duffle bag to the floor and kicked it to the side of the cage. "Your stuff."

"Stuff?" Audrey asked, crouching and reaching through the bars of her cage to unzip the bag. Once she found it was packed with her cloths she smiled up at John gratefully. "Thanks."

"Welcome." He said and pulled out his lighter.

"So what can you do?" She asked, tapping her fingers on the bars.

"What?" He asked, furrowing his eyebrows.

"You're a mutant too right?" Audrey questioned.

He nodded, looking at his lighter.

"So what's your mutation, what can you do?"

"Why are you so interested?" He asked defensively.

"Well its talk to you, or contract the boredom disease and die…" She said, sitting down on the floor and crossing her legs. "Boredom is a very fatal disease." She added, looking quite serious.

John lifted and eyebrow and opened his lighter, then pulled the flame into a fireball, allowing it to hover above his open palm.

Audrey's eyes actually sparkled as she watched the display.

"That's definitely one of the coolest things I've ever seen." She said, grinning.

"Yea, I can't create the fire though." He said, looking at the fireball before he snuffed it out.

"So? You can do _that_." Audrey told him, still grinning. "creating the fire is what the Zippo's for." She said matter of factly.

John gave her a glance over, nodding. Then he snapped the lighter shut and pocketed it.

There was a moment where John and Audrey just looked at one another.

"I can pick things up with my feet." Audrey said suddenly. Receiving a strange look from John she continued. "And I can hold a pencil between my toes." She stretched a leg out to her side and stared at her foot. "and write stuff… Its barely legible" She looked back up at John, beaming. "But it's something thought, right?"

"Its _definitely _something." John said, smiling a little. There was something about the prisoner spaz he liked.

* * *

Amelia paced up and down the hall, her arms folded over her chest.

"Would you sit down already." Logan snapped, the constant pacing was becoming very annoying.

Amelia stood still long enough to give him a very dangerous glare, then she continued her pacing.

"What is he doing in there?" She demanded, pointing to the entrance doors of cerebro.

"Locating .." Logan started but stopped, thinking.

"Audrey?" Amelia asked.

"That's her name eh?" Due to Amelia's very ridged stance Logan thought it might be best to make conversation, even if he wasn't very good at it.

"Yea." Amelia stated sitting next to him on the bench. She looked over "You don't have to stay with me you know."

"I know, but the Chuck wants me to, just incase you try to do something heroic stupid and heroic ." He told her, trying not to smile at her aggravated expression.

"You think you could stop me if I did?" She snapped and Logan was taken a bit off guard by this.

He thought about it for a moment, "Would you dust me if I tried?"

"Probably." Amelia said simply.

"I'd still try." He told her.

"Your stupid." She replied flatly.

"And you're a destructive pain in the ass." Wolverine replied.

"I am not a pain in the ass." Grim said.

"Yea, you are."

"When have I ever been a pain in your ass?" She asked. "I don't even talk to you if I can help it."

He looked at her and lifted his eyebrows.

"Its not like that." She attempted to clarify. .

"Sure." Wolverine said sarcastically.

"It isn't. I'm just better at avoiding people than having to deal with them."

"I've noticed that." He told her.

"Don't judge me." She replied.

* * *

Meanwhile… Inside Cerebro. Professor Xavier sat, positively perplexed. Magneto had that helmet, so Charles couldn't read his thoughts, also he didn't seem to have told anyone his _exact _plans, not even Mystique...

Something wasn't right, Xavier knew it, something was missing. Even _with _a power with the destructive force of Amelia's, what would Magneto try to do with it?

There was also that feeling, the distinct emotion that Jean wasn't dead… though Xavier didn't know if it was real, or just part of him grieving for the loss of one of his first students. A part of him sincerely doubted the grieving theory…he could feel her out there, her energy. Still he wouldn't bring himself to say anything to the others yet… not yet.

Then there was Audrey, he'd managed to locate her… and she was with _Pyro_?

* * *

"We went to your school." John informed Audrey, leaning back.

"Yeah?" Audrey asked, leaning back on her elbows.

"Yeah, Ballet huh?" He asked mockingly.

"Hey it's a hard school to get into." She told him, pride in her voice.

"It's not that. It's just, you don't look like a ballerina to me." He said, looking her up and down.

"Oh, well good." She said, not a hint of sarcasm in her voice.

"Good?" John asked.

"Yes, good." She nodded and looked as though she was enjoying his expression, which showed he was a little confused. "I don't want to look like a ballerina, I mean people who _look _like ballerina's often _look _like they've just had a stick surgically inserted into their ass."

John grinned, he was thinking the same thing.

"And I don't want to look _or _be up tight like that." She stated, then sighed in a dreamy way for effect. "I just want to dance."

"Are you any good?" He asked.

"Am I any good." Audrey scoffed. "Yeah, I'm good."

"And modest" John smirked.

"I don't believe in modesty, If you're good at something you should let everybody know it." She told him, sticking her chin out confidently.

"Yea?" He asked quietly, thinking.

"Yeah…" Audrey furrowed her eyebrows. "John?"

"What?" He asked, looking at her expression with curiosity.

"I have to pee." She said standing up and clapping her hands together.

"Then pee." He told her, she gave him a dark look.

"I'm serious." She said, gripping one of the bars of her cage with her hand and doing an antsy little dance.

John just lifted his eyebrows without responding.

"Come on." She whined. "I really have to _go_."

"What do you want me to do about it?" John asked her, flatly.

"Let me out and show me where the bathroom is." She said impatiently.

"I can't do that." He said, shrugging.

"Why not?" Audrey's awkward dance stopped and she crossed her legs, standing there looking at John with a shocked expression.

"Because I'm not supposed to let you out." He told her unsympathetically.

"Oh, come _on_.."

"I'm not _supposed _to."

"Do you _always _do what your supposed to?" She challenged.

John received her challenging gaze and gave her one right back. "Fine."

* * *

"So, where is she?" Amelia prompted, looking nothing less than intense.

"I know what you're planning and it's unnecessary." Xavier was trying to explain, she was refusing to listen.

"Where's my sister." Amelia repeated impatiently.

"You know very well what will happen if you go there." Xavier continued her, trying to reason.

"You said when I came here that I could trust you." Amelia stated darkly. "You promised me you would help me."

Xavier felt a head ache building. If he didn't tell her, she would no longer trust him, he would lose her and he knew it. If he did tell her she would attempt to go obliterate Magneto and may end up taking much of the coast line with her.

He couldn't lose her, she was too unstable.

"She's in an old canning factory on Woodward street on the east side of the city." He said, sounding tired and defeated.

Amelia turned and began to walk down the hall.

Storm looked to Xavier.

Xavier looked to Scott.

Scott looked to Logan.

"Is she doing what I think he's doing?" Scott asked.

"I believe so." Xavier replied.

"Well we can't let her do that." Storm told them.

"Have fun trying to stop her." Logan said as Storm and Scott went after the dark headed destruction zone.

Xavier gave him a look.

"What?" Logan asked, raising his eyebrows. "No."

"She'll believe you." The older man said.

"She doesn't even like me." Wolverine replied.

"No she doesn't."

Logan scowled.

"But she knows you wouldn't lie to her."

* * *

"Amelia stop!" Scott shouted after her.

"What do you want Scott?" She asked impatiently and pulled on her large black coat, flipping up the hood. Scott stopped in the sudden realization of why the students had started calling her the Grim Reaper. She really did look like death in that coat when she was being scary.

"Don't do this." Storm said, now joining the conversation. Amelia might have intimidated Scott, but not her.

"Don't do what, go try and find my sister?" She asked and started walking away.

"We will go get her." Scott said a little louder than he had meant to. "But you have to _wait_, she'll be fine."

"And if she isn't?" Scott understood Amelia's question immediately, what it really meant was. 'If I stay and she ends up hurt I'm going to have you strung up by the--' "_Scott_?" She prompted.

"She will be." Storm said.

"You really think--"

"That you should take off that damn coat and be patient for once Grim, _yea_." Logan had just caught up with them.

Amelia glared at him.

His expression remained unimpressed.

"Fine.. " She finally said, her voice holding as much guilt and anxiety she felt about slipping off the coat. She stepped towards Logan. "If she isn't alright at the end of this, I'm blaming you Wolverine."

With that she walked past him and he quirked an eyebrow watching her go.

"I'm not the only one making you stay!" He said loudly.

"I'm blaming you!" She replied, turning to snarl at him.


	4. Blob No Babysit

Pardon Me

Chapter Four: Blob No Baby-Sit.

* * *

"How much of this place is metal?" Audrey asked, looking over the large canning equipment as they walked past it.

"About ninety percent of it." John replied, somewhat bitter. "Keep it down,"

"Sure. Fine. Whatever." She sang. She was indifferent to his grouchy mood and that bugged him a little.

John flicked his lighter and furrowed his eyebrows. He watched Audrey from the corner of his eye, he was suspicious now that she might do something stupid like try and run away.

"God, how far away is the bathroom?" She demanded in a stained whisper.

"It's just up there." John told her, pointing to a door just ahead of them in the hallway.

"Excuse me." She chirped and ran down the hallway as fast as she could.

John's chest swelled, he took off after her.

It was over in a second, he had her by the arm.

Audrey squealed as she was forced against the wall.

There noses were barely a centimeter apart.

John's expression was dark, angry.

Audrey seemed unfazed by this proximity, by his intensity.

"I have to tinkle!!" She howled, twisting madly in his grip. "I was running to the _bathroom_."

"Oh." He released her.

"Gotta go, gotta go, gotta go _right now_." Audrey chanted while sharply turning into the bathroom John had pointed out for her.

He leaned against the wall just beside the door and waited. Twirling his lighter between his fingers.

When Audrey emerged she was smiling pleasantly at him for a moment.

Then her smile faded into a pout.

"I have to go back to the cage, don't I?" She asked, quite serious.

John nodded.

"Fine. But I don't have to like it." She stated, crossing her arms.

"No, you don't."

"Good, then… " She held out her hand to him. "Please escort me back to my cell Sir."

John sighed and took her hand in his, only to receive a sharp zap of static electricity.

"Ouch." Audrey whined, pulling her hand to her chest and shielding it from him.

He could tell she was trying to not smile.

He smirked at her and after a second she held her hand out to him again.

"Don't zap me this time."

"Yea, because I meant to do it the first time." He said under his breath, taking her hand. He led back past the canning machines..

His hand was warm and Audrey found herself enjoying the fact he was touching her. Any other person might debate having emotions for someone who helped kidnap you, and if it was wise or not, but Audrey didn't often debate how she felt. If she felt it, it was good enough for her, and with John she felt it.

John on the other hand was completely bewildered by how she was acting. He had kidnapped her yet she was treating him like a lifelong friend.

He looked over her shoulder at her. She grinned.

Either she was really weird, or she was into him.

His ego let her believe she was into him.

"Pepperoni." She whispered to him.

"What?" He asked, stoppng.

"Sausage." Audrey told him, smiling. "I'm hungry."

He didn't answer. He started walking again.

She repeated. "I'm hungry, are you hungry?"

He still didn't answer.

"Really, that's so funny you're hungry because I am _hungry_."

"You're not going to shut up until I get you some food, are you?" John asked.

"Ah, barely known me that long and your reading me like a book." Audrey said appreciatively.

* * *

When Amelia could not break free of her dark thoughts, this is where she came. She stood in the middle of the old tennis quart, the one far from the schools grounds, the one far from the schools unsuspecting students

Light played with the shadows cast on the large muted green court. Tree's rustled in the wind. This place was forgotten, this place was hers.

A tennis ball launcher stared at her from thirty feet away. The small timer attached to the side of it ticked down and dinged.

A ball launched. It soared through the air towards her.

Amelia blinked, still focusing on the ground beneath her feet.

The bright green tennis ball burst into a fine black mist.

Amelia's mouth twitched.

This was boring to her now, two months ago it had been impossible, now it was just easiest, most dull thing to do.

Still, it was all she had and she clung to it.

Xavier had given her this old court shortly after she'd arrived, he had given her the machine, and he had given her all the balls she could use to practice on. Though at the time she had fought him tooth and nail against it at first, she had grown to love it over the past months. It had become her sanctuary.

Still, even this place couldn't ease her. Her mood continued to sour with each minute that passed.

Her little sister was in danger, and she could do nothing about it. No, she had agreed to do nothing about it.

Amelia's jaw tightened, she glared hatefully at the ground.

The launcher dinged, another ball was released.

Amelia did not flinch or pay attention to the flying projectile. She didn't have to see it to know where it was, she could feel it.

It imploded into nothingness, into dust. She couldn't feel it anymore. That was the best part though, feeling that it was gone.

With every tennis ball she obliterated, her stomach sank further.

It was like drugs. Your whole life people tell you to not do drugs, to just say no, that they were bad and destructive. So when you finally grow up a little, when you decide to be fearless and take a hit off of that joint the buzz is ruined by the guilt.

When she did this, when she reduced things to ash it felt great, it felt amazing, it was almost like what she was designed to do.

Amelia smiled bitterly.

Then there was the guilt, there was that dirty feeling, that haunting weight in her stomach was what made this so hard for her.

It was in her DNA, t was forged into her every molecule. This was what she was wired to do.

Guilt gave way to anger, anger would cause her to lose control. Her loss of control could be nothing or it could be cataclysmic.

Her mutation was like a loaded gun.

Amelia gritted her teeth. She walked over to the tennis ball launcher and turned up the firing speed.

She returned to her place across the court.

She closed her eyes and listened to the timer.

Tick. Tick. Tick. Tick.

Three tennis balls came out, rapid fire.

Swoosh. Swoosh. Swoosh.

Her eyes opened, black engulfed grey.

Three tennis balls burst into ash.

* * *

"You're really bad at this whole kidnapping thing." Audrey said, smirking.

"I'll just take this back then." He replied.

"No!" She reached through the bars and grasped John's hand just as he was beginning to slide the pizza box out of her reach. "I meant it in a nice way." She said looking up at him and smiling. "The very best way!"

John tensed under her light touch, feeling a warmth course its way through his body.

"Promise you will not take the pizza away." She commanded, still holding onto his hand.

He nodded.

"_Promise_."

"Do I really have to?" He asked, dragging his gaze from her hand, up her arm, over her neck and too her face.

"If you ever want your hand back you do." She told him with a sly smile.

He smirked, but remained silent. All the while he was making no attempt to move his hand from hers.

Her face fell a little.

"I'm thinking about it." He said.

"Think faster." She told him, voice filled with false urgency. "The pizza is getting cold."

"Fine, I promise." He agreed drudgingly.

She let go of his hand and put her other arm through the bars as well, opening the pizza box and beaming at the carb loaded glory before her

John sat back and watched her, knowing now for the first time exactly why he liked her. She was different, not just different compared to other girls, but different compared to people in general. She didn't seem to judge people at first glance. There weren't any awkward silences when she was around… in fact she hardly ever shut up.

Why was he staying with her tonight? He was trying to figure it out, Magneto hadn't told him to stay and watch her, or feed her.. _Or touch her_…

John pulled out his lighter, feeling that warmth in his body he had felt when she grabbed his hand.

This girl might just end up getting him into trouble…

"I was seven I think, and Amelia was fifteen. There was this movie we both were dying to see… I actually can't remember what movie it was now, weird.. _" _She thought a moment and then shrugged it off. Taking a bite of pizza and continuing. _"Anyways,_ Amelia and I wanted to see this movie so bad, but she only had enough money for one ticket. So I got her to buy the ticket and give it to me, and so she could sneak in without getting noticed. I distracted the usher by barking at him… _don't laugh_. I stood there and just, barked at him while Amelia tried to sneak through the theater doors right behind the guy, _stop laughing_.. " Audrey stopped and looked at John who had broke out into a fit of laughter.

"You barked at him? That's the best plan your sister could come up with to distract him?"

"Actually it was my idea." Audrey grinned and John started laughing harder. "Hey it worked!"

"Where did that story come from?" John asked, fighting the last rolls of his own laughter.

"Not a story." Audrey said, taking a large bite of pizza. "It really happened."

"No, I meant why did you just start talking about it." He clarified, reaching down and grabbing a slice of pizza for himself.

She shrugged. "I don't know. Your pretty when you laugh though."

John's eyebrows furrowed. "Did you just call me pretty?'

"Yea." She told him. "Not in like a weird girly guy pretty way. Your pretty in a guy-guy-manly." She cleared her throat. "Kind of way." Barely a second of silence passed between them before- "Awkward.." She sung, her eyes floating up to the ceiling.

"Kind of." He said nodding.

"Your turn." She said, ripping some of the crust off her pizza.

"My turn to what?"

"To tell me something about yourself, like- have you ever barked at someone?" She asked him.

"No." John replied.

"Hmm, you should try it. Its oddly liberating." Audrey said and began to peel the pepperoni off of her pizza and place it on a slice in the box. "Alright, what about- mewing?"

"Mewing?"

"Like a cat."

"Oh." John said, "No."

She finished pulling the pepperoni off and began to really devour her piece of pizza.

"Any animal noises at anyone ever?" She asked.

"No." He said, finishing his piece and dropping the curst in the box, he picked up the slice with extra pepperoni and seemed to think a minute. "Wait, do sheep noises count?"

"Kind of. It depends on if the people you made the sheep noise at were sheep's or not. Because if they were sheep's metaphorical or literal- it doesn't count. But if you 'baa'd' at someone who wasn't a sheep and was a complete stranger, it would count." She said, and if John had to guess she's actually formed up these rules in an organized manor years ago.

"That made no sense." He said.

"Hmm. Have you ever stuffed a snowball down the front of someone's pants?" She asked, lifting her eyebrows.

John smirked. "What kind of question is that?"

Her eyes widened . "You have!"

* * *

Amelia had shed her long black jacket. With it she had also shed her stoicism.

In a white tank top and long boot cut jeans she paced up and down the court like an animal. Her features were expressionless, her pale white skin shed pearls of sweat.

The summer afternoon had turned into a hot and humid dusk.

The air was dense, it pressed against her skin.

The timer's rapid ticking tickled her ears.

The balls launched, this time far more than three came screaming out.

Amelia's eyes now darted to each one before it disintegrated.

"You're getting pretty good at that, eh?" Logan's calm voice broke her concentration.

A tennis ball smacked her in the shoulder.

"Damn it!" She shouted, stumbling backward as the ball slapped her.

She glared at him through the chain link, he was leaning against a tall oak.

"You should probably keep your eye on the ball." He commented.

"Yes, thank you!" She was fired up now, she grabbed the ball which had struck her and threw it back at the machine violently. It hit the metal ball launcher with a loud resonating bang. "I'll try to remember that!"

She stared at him, her breath hitched.

He was wearing a burnt out wife beater, she could see the muscles in his shoulders twitch. He was carrying something with him, but she was not focusing on that at the moment.

No, she was focusing on the fact he'd entered her territory. This was her space and she did not want anyone else in it. He was a trespasser, he was an irritation.

"You've been out here for hours, y'know." He told her, walking towards the chain link of the court.

"So?" She snapped.

Logan's eyebrows knotted. He stared at her, his body tensed. A large bead of sweat rolled down her neck and couldn't take his eyes off of it for what seemed like the longest time, too long.

"I don't want you out here." She clarified, walking to meet him at the fence.

"Fine." He growled, dropping the bag of fresh tennis balls he'd been carrying beside the fence.

Amelia's stomach dropped.

Logan turned and started to walk away.

She wanted to say thank you, she wanted to apologize but she couldn't.

Amelia's fingers entwined in the chain link, through it she watched him disappear into the forest, on his way back to the school grounds. She rested her forehead against the fence. She closed her eyes and sighed.


	5. Xavier's School Sleeps

Pardon Me

Chapter Five: Xavier's School Sleeps

* * *

It was two in the morning. It was the first night that Audrey would sleep in her cage.

She looked so completely comfortable laying out on her little green cot that John had to question her sanity.

"So what about your parents?" He asked, and handed her a coke. He had left, gone to the kitchen, and come back with drinks later that night.

"My mom died when I was about three. So me and my sister lived with our dad." She said it so easily while opening her coke. "When my sister left for college she made sure I would board at School so I wouldn't have to stay with him."

John nodded, taking a drink. "Him, your dad?"

"Yea, he's a jack ass."

"You don't like your dad." He stated seriously.

"Not really no." She said, smirking and took a drink.

"Why?" He asked.

"Lots of reasons." She chirped "But mostly because he's just a jack ass."

"That's a good reason." He told her, his voice quite genuine.

She chuckled. "So, how bout' your family?" She asked, setting her can of pop on the floor and leaning against the bars of her cage.

John's expression darkened. "I don't have a family."

"Oh, so you grew up--"

"In a home, yea." He said impatiently. Obviously this was a touchy subject for him.

"Well---" She started, but he interrupted her again.

"Don't." He told her, fiddling with his lighter again.

"Don't what?" She asked, wrinkling her eyebrows

"Don't say you're sorry." John told her sharply..

"I wasn't going to." She told him, seriously.

"Good." He stated.

"What I was going to say was--" She got cut off again.

"Don't go on about how families aren't that great either." He said.

Audrey groaned. "I wasn't going to.."

John's eyebrows furrowed. "So what were you going to say?"

"I was going to say, before you so rudely interrupted me, twice, was that it's really cold in here and I want a blanket."

"Are you making demands?" He scoffed.

"No." She whined. "I'm begging."

He looked less than impressed.

"Please! Please! Come on… John?"

"What?"

"Please."

"You're not going to stop, are you?" He asked.

"Nope." She replied, smiling. "Please??"

"Yea, alright." He grumbled, standing up. "I'll see what I can do."

"I want one with Winnie the Pooh on it!" She called sleepily as he left the room.

* * *

Everything was painfully still. The entire school was silent, the calm quiet anyone would expect. The comfortable silence everyone sleeps in.

Everyone but her.

Amelia stared at the container of mint chocolate chip ice cream in front of her and pulled out a large spoonful, shoving it into her mouth. Not knowing if her sister was okay was driving her mad. Audrey could need her right now, Amelia put another large spoonful of ice cream into her mouth, chewing and swallowing it quickly. Audrey could be hurt…

Amelia did the only thing she could do at two in the morning when her little sister had been kidnapped and could be in danger; she ate half a gallon of ice cream.

Not that binge eating was going to help, she knew it. It didn't even make her feel better. It was pointless, but it passed the time.

Passing the time wasn't good enough, that's all she'd been doing all day.

. He hands began to tremble and in her frustration Amelia dropped the spoon into the container. She buried her hands in her dark hair. It was too much for her to handle. The worry she felt for Audrey, the fear she felt for everyone around her.

How long could it be before she snapped again and just unleashed her powers without meaning too? How long would it be before she'd turn everything to ashes again?

If this stress kept up, not very long.

Her thoughts drifted back to Audrey. God knows what they've been doing to her little sister.

If anyone hurt her, Amelia was going to kill them.

Her hand reached into the ice cream container for the spoon. Fighting for calm. Amelia began on the rest of the gallon. When a voice interrupted her.

"Grim?" Logan asked, she didn't have to turn around to know his arms were crossed and his eyebrows were furrowed.

She responded without turning around, eating some more ice cream she spoke with her mouth full. "'ea 'ogan?"

"What're you doin'?" He sat down in the chair next to hers.

She swallowed. "Nothing."

He nodded, his eyebrows furrowing once again. "Don't you sleep?"

"On nights I'm not worried about my sister being killed, sure." She told him.

Logan shrugged and walked to the fridge, pulling out a coke.

"Do you want to talk about it?" He asked.

"Not really." She replied and he shrugged a second time.

Amelia set her spoon on the table and stared at Logan.

He stared back.

"Thank you for earlier." That was the best she could do. That was her best apology.

"You go through those tennis balls pretty fast. I figured you needed more." He took another drink. "Chuck keeps a bunch of em in the back of the gym if you want any more."

She looked at the ice cream container darkly, nodding. "Oh god." She covered her mouth feeling a sudden harsh wave of nausea.

"Grim?" Logan asked, eyebrows furrowing.

"I'm going to be sick." With that she got up and ran out of the kitchen. Greatly regretting the large quantity of ice cream she'd eaten.

* * *

John had a blanket, his blanket, the blanket that had been on his bed. Now he was carrying it in his arms, preparing to hand it over to a very odd prisoner he was growing increasingly fond of.

Why did he like her? Why was he going out of his way to be nice to her? Why was he so damn frustrated suddenly?

He could only blame all of his problems the part of his anatomy which made him male.

No, he could blame her too. He could, but he wouldn't.

It wasn't her fault he sister was this powerful mutant. It wasn't her fault she got kidnapped. It wasn't even her fault that he found himself liking her so much.

John halted that line of thought right there. He one, wasn't going to get all torn up about not making out with some kidnapped girl. He wasn't even going to like her. He didn't like her… she was annoying.

He pushed the door open and saw Audrey there asleep. Her shoulder length copper hair spilled over the side of the green cot.

A long sigh escaped him, he reached into his pocket and fished out the keys to the cage door. It was only a minute or so before he had it unlocked and open.

Audrey was perfectly still, her eyes were closed. She was almost asleep.

He draped his comforter over her.

"Winnie the pooh." Audrey said, smiling up at him and snuggling into the blanket.

John sighed, his blanket was not Winnie The Pooh.

"Go back to sleep." Was his simple order, walking out of the cage and shutting the door.

Audrey closed her eyes again, and winced at the sound of the cage locking.

"Can you stay in here with me tonight?" Her voice was soft, pleading.

John felt his chest swell. He wanted to say yes.

"No." He said, snapping off the fluorescent light overhead and leaving the room.

Audrey shivered and curled up into blanket he'd left with her. Why did the room seem that much more cold when he wasn't in it?

Where was Amelia, what was she doing right now?

* * *

Amelia ripped off a fresh piece of toilet paper and wiped her mouth.

The porcelain god was unmerciful, she sacrificed the piece of paper to it and flushed.

Her head ached and her skin was cold. She could do nothing but lay back on the tile floor and stare at the bright fluorescent light above her. The only thing she could think of was her little sister. Worries flooded her mind, she could feel herself drowning in them.


End file.
